Worthen with Shelve Parish Council
Notifications of new Planning applications are sent by email to the Parish Council from Shropshire Council. These notifications contain the planning reference, address and description of the proposals. A link to Shropshire Council’s Planning Portal is detailed in the notification. The Planning Portal shows full details of the application, including all public comments.
A copy of the notification is sent to all councillors to enable them to look at the application prior to the parish council meeting when they are an agenda item. As of December 2020, planning matters will instead by handled by the Parish Council Planning Committee; this does not change procedure except that henceforth, all Planning matters will be handled in a separate meeting.
All Planning Applications received by this council are added to the agenda for the upcoming meeting. A draft of the agenda is sent to the members of the Planning Working Group for a more detailed examination and the results of the Working Group’s findings are then sent to all councillors for information. The working party does not predetermine applications. (It should be noted that as of the implementation of the Planning Committee, the Working Group has ceased operation.)
All Councillors are required to look at the planning portal and talk to members of the community about applications. If the clerk receives comments directly or by email regarding applications these are forwarded to councillors for information. Not all members of the community are comfortable with putting comments on Shropshire Councils Planning Portal as the details are not private.
Each item on the agenda is considered with the information contained in the application and material planning comments made on the portal, verbally or by email. Each agenda item is discussed singularly.
The clerk is instructed by council to respond to Shropshire Council via the planning portal and will ask for clarification on material planning considerations which are to be used as the basis of any response. It is not an exhaustive list and the clerk has 20 years cumulative experience of responding to applications. The clerk does work in partnership with councillors on the responses when required. The responses are not a personal viewpoint of the clerk, but detail the resolution made by the Parish Council in each case.
Applications are automatically put forward to be considered by the Chairman and Vice Chairman of Shropshire Councils Planning Committee for inclusion on the agenda if the Parish Council’s response is contrary to the recommendation of the delegated officer. The Chairman and Vice Chairman of the committee make the final decision on which applications are added to the agenda. Furthermore, if the Parish Council, regardless of whether the response is a representation that strongly supports an application is considered by the planning committee, and the Local Member agrees, the application is put forward to be considered for inclusion. A representation response is given equal merit to a resolution to support or object by the planning officer and planning committee.
It should further be noted that the Parish Council is a consultative, not a decision-making body. The Parish Council is empowered to make recommendations and provide information, but the final decision on each application is taken by either a Planning Officer or the Planning Committee.